Tasting Spoons

Wanting a fairly simple dinner the other night, I knew I would use chicken. So I glanced at my newest cookbook, Ina’s Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics (her newest), and found this recipe for a chicken stew kind of dish but with bouillabaisse overtones. Bouillabaisse (pronounced boo-ya-bess) is a French seafood stew that I enjoy very much.. So Ina took all the identity of the dish and adapted it to chicken. (Why didn’t I think of that?) It wasn’t difficult at all. It did take some time to brown all the chicken pieces (I made enough to feed 8), but once you combine ingredients to go into the oven, it’s very simple. But I only recommend it with some reservations. Read on.

What you get is a tender chicken dish with potatoes (I used yams just because I had them and didn’t have any potatoes on hand) in a tomato-based sauce. If I made this again I’d serve it with some pasta (instead of the potatoes or yams), because there is a lot of sauce.  I didn’t think the sauce lent itself well to yams, and I’m not sure the dish is the right fit for potatoes either. But, no sense in wasting the sauce, so I think I’d just make some pasta on the side and serve the chicken on top of it. My photo above I took after the fact and forgot to add the dollop of rouille to it. Sorry about that.

One of the key ingredients to bouillabaisse is saffron. This recipe calls for a LOT of saffron, so dig out your wallet. Fortunately, I had plenty on hand. It gently flavors everything about this dish.

If you were to go onto the Food Network’s site for this recipe, you’ll find lots of people think there are some mistakes in the printed recipe. I agree. I’ve corrected them in my recipe below. (1) the chicken needs to be baked at 350 or 375 in order to get the potatoes to cook. After 90 minutes at 300, the yams I used were still quite firm so I ended up simmering the pot on the stovetop for another 10-15 minutes to get them tender enough to serve; (2) the rouille (a mayonnaise kind of sauce you dollop on top of the stew) contains too much oil (most people thought 1/2 cup was sufficient). It definitely didn’t need a full cup of oil. I did the full amount, and the rouille was very thick. Plus, I have way too much left over, so perhaps the reduced quantity is correct; and (3) adding the Pernod is optional (I don’t happen to like it, but if you like anise, go right ahead).

The rouille added a really nice garlicky high note. It also contains additional saffron. I would not eliminate that part of the dish - it needs the little cap on the stew with the garlic zing. I was a bit puzzled by my recipe software with the high calorie content of this dish. I guess it’s high because you use chicken pieces with skin, even though I don’t eat the skin. Ina’s recipe indicated it served 3 people, but I think it would serve more unless you buy a really small chicken.

A note about leftovers: A couple of days later when I reheated this to serve as leftovers, I was quite disappointed. The saffron flavor had completely disappeared.  How very sad, because I think it added something distinctive to the flavor. Especially sad because saffron is so darned expensive. And the garlic flavor had completely disappeared too. Bizarre. So, my advice is to make this only for the number of people you’ll serve at one meal. I also didn’t like the red sauce leftover. It lacked oomph - tasted too much like tomato paste right out of the can. I knew it wasn’t but that’s what it tasted like. I think I wanted to add salt, but knew there was plenty in it already. And the yams tasted next to awful with it left over. I threw them out and used the rest of the chicken in something else. I did end up using the sauce for a moussaka casserole (will post tomorrow), which was a great way to get double-duty out of the quantity this made. So, next time: make to serve over pasta, no Pernod again, and bake at a higher temp. And plan for no leftovers. So, I’m only recommending this with reservations.

Chicken Bouillabaisse
Recipe: Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics
Servings: 4-5
BOUILLABAISSE:
2 chicken breasts — about 10
2 chicken thighs
4 chicken drumstick Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves — minced
2 tablespoons olive oil — good quality
1 head garlic — separated into cloves and peeled
1 teaspoon saffron threads
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
28 ounces tomato puree
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 cup dry white wine
3 tablespoons Pernod — (I omitted this)
1 pound Yukon gold potatoes — baby sized, halved (I’d omit this and serve the chicken & sauce over pasta)
Rouille — for serving, recipe follows
Crusty French bread — for serving
ROUILLE:
4 large garlic cloves
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon saffron threads
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 cup olive oil — good quality
1. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and season it generously with salt, pepper, and the rosemary. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat in a large Dutch oven and brown the chicken pieces in batches until nicely browned all over, about 5 to 7 minutes per batch. Transfer the browned chicken pieces to a plate and set aside.
2. Lower the heat to medium-low and add the garlic, saffron, fennel seeds, tomato puree, chicken stock, white wine, Pernod, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon of pepper to the pot. Stir and scrape up any browned bits on the bottom, and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, until the garlic is very tender, stirring occasionally.
3. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
4. Carefully pour the sauce into the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Puree until smooth. Return the sauce to the Dutch oven and add the sliced potatoes and browned chicken pieces with their juices. Stir carefully.
5. Cover the pot and bake for 45 to 55 minutes, until the potatoes are tender and the chicken is done. Check the seasonings and serve hot in shallow bowls with big dollops of Rouille and slices of crusty bread.
6. ROUILLE: Place the garlic and salt on a cutting board and mince together. Transfer the mixture to a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Add the egg yolk, lemon juice, saffron, and red pepper flakes. Process until smooth. With the machine running, pour the olive oil in a thin, steady stream through the feed tube to make a thick mayonnaise emulsion. Transfer the rouille to a serving bowl and store it in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Yield: 1 cup
Nutrition count not included here because it just was wa-a-ay off and I couldn’t figure out how to fix it.
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Now don’t get all squirrely on me – some of you may read that title and think – oh no – that sounds awful! Not so. This is actually a cold side dish with an Asian influence. It’s healthy (lots of spinach) and can stand in as a pasta or a salad. So, don’t just delete this and move on. Read through and at least see what’s in this!

It had been some years since I’d made this salad. Well, actually, the dish is supposed to be a hot side, but with ribs and a green salad on a warm summer evening, I wanted a cold salad. So I took a recipe I’ve made before, adapted it a bit and made it a cold dish. Hugh Carpenter is a master of combining Asian condiments and making them into deliciousness for salads or side dishes. I perused my pantry to make sure I had the necessities (spaghetti, pine nuts, garlic, basil, cream and hot chili sauce). Onto my grocery list went the rest: fresh spinach, chives, and cilantro. My daughter, Dana, made this for me, for a family dinner the other night.

This recipe comes from Hugh Carpenter’s book Pacific Flavors, his first cookbook. He was on the cooking school circuit, as I recall, and I bought the book at one class he taught in Pasadena in 1988. Everything he prepared in the cooking class was outstanding. I’ve mentioned him before in some of my recipes – particularly the New Wave Garlic Bread (relatively traditional garlic bread but with an Asian twist), the fabulous Baby Back Ribs with Peanut Butter Slather (I mean, that explains it all, doesn’t it?), another great side dish of his called Tex-Mex Jicama Salad. And then, my all-time favorite Carpenter dish, the Grilled Ribeyes with Amazing Glaze. And I just blogged about the other pork ribs, the All-Star Asian Ribs. So, I suppose you could say I’m a fan of Hugh Carpenter’s cooking style. I own three of his cookbooks – the one mentioned here, also Hot Barbecue (a more recent one) and Chopstix (his take on “quick” Asian food). All of his dishes, though, are untraditional Asian. They’re Pan-Asian, or Pan-Californian, or Fusion. Whatever you want to call it. He uses all the different condiments and spices from multiple Asian cuisines and combines them into fresh foods with a California kind of flair.

So, this dish . . . it’s nothing but cold noodles tossed with a garlicky spinach sauce. The spinach is whirred (liquified) in the food processor along with a few other ingredients and poured over the noodles before serving with a generous amount of toasted pine nuts on top. That’s it. All of it can be done ahead except combining the noodles and the sauce. If you like a hint of Asia and want something a tad different, this is your ticket.

Asian Noodle Salad with Jade Sauce

Recipe: Adapted from Hugh Carpenter’s book, Pacific Flavors

Servings: 8

1/2 pound spaghetti — thin type, if possible, or Chinese noodles

1 tablespoon peanut oil

2 medium carrots — shredded

1 whole red bell pepper — shredded

1/2 cup pine nuts — toasted

JADE SAUCE:

2 cloves garlic

2 teaspoons salt

1 pound fresh spinach — stemmed and cleaned

2 bunches chives — chopped

1/4 cup basil leaves

1/4 cup cilantro

1/3 cup chicken stock

2/3 cup heavy cream

1/4 teaspoon Chinese chili sauce

2 tablespoons sesame oil — dark, toasted

Freshly ground black pepper — to taste

1/4 cup cilantro — for garnish

1.  Bring at least 4 quarts of water to a boil and add the noodles.  Cook until they are al dente - still a little bit of firmness - about 5 minutes.  Drain and rinse, then set aside.  Add the bell pepper and carrots to the noodles and refrigerate until ready to serve.

2.  In the food processor drop the garlic cloves and salt down the feed tube and allow this mixture to sit for a few minutes while you gather the other ingredients.

3.  Add the spinach, chives, cilantro and basil and puree until smooth.  Then add the chicken stock, cream, salt, sesame oil and chili sauce.  Puree again.

4.  When ready to serve pour the sauce over the noodles.  Add more salt and pepper if needed, then garnish with pine nuts and additional sprigs of cilantro.

Serving Ideas: This can also be made as a hot side dish if you prefer.  Just heat the sauce and noodles together until heated through, then garnish with the nuts and cilantro.

Per Serving: 299 Calories; 18g Fat (51.3% calories from fat); 9g Protein; 29g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber; 27mg Cholesterol; 688mg Sodium.

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When I saw this recipe title my head tilted sideways and a big question mark floated skyward out of my ear. No, you don’t barbecue the salad. Who whooda thunk of putting barbecue sauce in a pasta salad, I ask you? The recipe came into my inbox from Cook’s Illustrated (I get an email epistle from them regularly) and this recipe was in the list, but credited to Cook’s Country, a magazine I don’t subscribe to. It sounded so incongruous I had to go investigate the recipe further.

Pasta is something we severely limit around here, and not because we don’t like it. But when I read this, it just sounded so different I had to try it. Right off the bat, I didn’t have scallions (used red onion instead) or red bell pepper (used some baby mild mini peppers instead), and I prowled my refrigerator for BBQ sauce and finally found something close (an Ancho Chile Spicy glaze). But hey, necessity is the mother of invention. I wanted to make this salad, and I used what I had on hand. Once  prepared, I dipped my spoon into the bowl and was absolutely wow-ed by the taste. I l-o-v-e-d it. We had it with our dinner and for leftovers a day later. I made a half batch. After two dinners, I added more vegetables to the mixture and prepared a small amount of additional mayo and bbq sauce which the salad needed. The vinegar is an important aspect of this salad - when I added the veggies with the added mayo and BBQ sauce, at first I didn’t add the vinegar. The salad was flat. If do add more veggies to it, you’ll need more dressing. Also another dash of hot sauce too. Next time I’ll try it with low-fat mayo. With all the flavor in the salad already, it may not need the boost of full-fat mayo.

The dressing is simple: mayo, barbecue sauce, cider vinegar, some spicy hot sauce (I used a Vietnamese one I keep on hand at all times), chili powder, garlic powder, cayenne (actually I omitted this because I used a spicy barbecue sauce) and black pepper (see photo with the pepper dotting the top). The dressing is poured on top of the pasta which is mixed with bell pepper, celery and the onions (scallions). It took about 15 minutes to make, not including the time to heat the pasta water. You could eat it immediately (although it would be warm or room temp), but they recommend letting it chill for 30 minutes or so, but it will keep for a couple of days. Perfecto for a summer barbecue dinner. You will be missing out if you don’t try this one. I’m so excited when somebody finds a way to make something ordinary into something fabulous. Why didn’t I think of that?

BBQ Macaroni (Pasta) Salad

Recipe: From Cook’s Country magazine

Servings: 10-12

Table salt

1 pound elbow macaroni [I used pennette]

1 whole red bell pepper — seeded and chopped fine

1 rib celery — chopped fine [use 2-3x as much]

4 whole scallions — sliced thin [I used red onion]

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

1 teaspoon hot sauce

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1 pinch cayenne pepper

1 cup Best Foods mayonnaise

1/2 cup barbecue sauce [I used a Honey-Roasted Ancho Chili BBQ Glaze]

Ground black pepper

1.  Bring 4 quarts water to boil in large pot.  Add 1 tablespoon salt and macaroni and cook until nearly tender, about 5 minutes.  Drain in colander and rinse with cold water until cool, then drain once more, briefly, so that pasta is still moist; transfer to large bowl.

2.  Stir in bell pepper, celery, scallions, vinegar, hot sauce, chili powder, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper, and let sit until flavors are absorbed, about 2 minutes.  Stir in mayonnaise and barbecue sauce and let sit until salad is no longer watery, about 5 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper and serve.  (The salad can be covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days.  Check seasonings before serving.)

Cook’s Notes: use more veggies if you’d like. Tomatoes would be a nice addition too, particularly if they’re good, ripe ones. Also cucumber. Leftover chicken or turkey could also be added to be a nice main course. If you add more veggies, you’ll need more dressing.

Per Serving: 343 Calories; 20g Fat (50.3% calories from fat); 7g Protein; 37g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 8mg Cholesterol; 250mg Sodium.

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I know, the name is odd, isn’t it? I suppose I could just change the name and claim the recipe as my own, but that’s not fair to the originator of this sauce, so I’ve always referred to it by her title. It’s not just any old spaghetti sauce, as we’d be likely to call it, and surely Camille Stagg meant for us to take notice. This isn’t your ordinary red – either the wine OR the sauce. Camille Stagg is a well-known journalist, travel writer, and must live in Chicago, as she’s written a book about gourmet haunts in that town. She consults with some wineries and wine distributors (clubs), as I found other recipes listed by her in a couple of places on the internet.

Many years ago we used to have two bottles of wine delivered to us each month by a small company up in Emeryville, California. And each month the wine purveyor included a write-up about the wines in the box, AND a recipe suitable for that wine. Likely this recipe came in with a box of zin, since it calls for the wine in the recipe. It sounded so intriguing, I had to try it. We were going to have a wine tasting at our home a week or so later, and I asked each guest couple to bring a bottle of wine and food to serve with it. Specifically, they were to bring something that would complement their wine type. We stood around our kitchen island with 4 (small) glasses of wine in front of us, and sampled food with each wine. It was fun, and we really liked this sauce.

Having not made this for several years, I had to refresh my memory about what was different about it (it uses nearly a whole bottle of zin for 5 pounds of sausage). Once you combine the sausage, onions, mushrooms, garlic and seasonings, you can either simmer it on the range, or put it in a crockpot for long, slow simmering. I did the latter and kept it at high for about 4 hours to help boil off the wine. The sauce is thin to start, and must be simmered down to reduce it. Obviously, it’s a heavy sauce, redolent with the winy taste, and complemented with a large quantity of mushrooms. It’s an extremely dark-colored sauce – zin wine certainly stains nearly anything it touches anyway, so the meat takes on the dark red color as well. You can use your own combination of sausage – the recipe calls for half hot and half sweet. It’s zesty, I’ll give you that! Zinfandel is a zesty wine in and of itself - most people describe it as spicy. And the hot/spicy sausage ups the ante. If you don’t like spicy sausage, use all sweet Italian. This freezes well. Over the years I’ve increased the recipe volume - you can certainly halve it easily enough. I like to have leftovers to freeze. Linguine is my pasta of choice for this. I also increased the amount of wine in the recipe, but not by much. I caution you about one thing, though:  canned tomato sauce - most are very, very high in sodium. When this sauce reduces down, the sauce will be too salty, so I recommend you use a low or no added sodium tomato sauce. Read the label!

Zinfandel Sausage Sauce for Pasta
Recipe By: adapted from one by Camille Stagg
Serving Size: 15
2 1/2 lb Italian sausage — hot
2 1/2 lb Italian sausage — sweet
3 whole onions — minced
1 1/2 lb mushrooms — sliced
4 c red wine — Zinfandel style
48 oz tomato sauce — low sodium
1/2 c Italian parsley
6 cloves garlic — minced
3 tbsp fresh basil
3 tbsp dried oregano
3 tbsp dried rosemary
Salt & pepper to taste, or no salt at all depending on the sodium in the tomato sauce
3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1.  In a large, heavy skillet, slowly brown the crumbled sausage; drain off fat.  Add onion and sauté until limp, then add garlic and mushrooms.  Continue cooking for 2-3 minutes. 
2.  Add Zinfandel wine, tomato sauce, herbs and spices.  Bring to a boil, partially cover pan, and reduce to a simmer. 
3.  Cook for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is reduced to a thick consistency.  Taste and adjust seasonings.  Serve over cooked pasta and top with grated parmesan.  This freezes well.  It is best if prepared a day ahead.
Per Serving: 641 Calories; 49g Fat (73.4% calories from fat); 26g Protein; 14g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 118mg Cholesterol; 1775mg
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Only vaguely do I recall when Rice-a-Roni came on the market. Way so many years ago. 1958 to be exact. It was a time when food producers were coming up with just the beginnings of boxed mixes. Cake mixes had been around for awhile, but not much of anything else. I thought the rice mixture was quite good. Tasty for such an easy combination in a box. But then the food police told us about sodium, and I began noticing how much was in lots of the foods I purchased. There still is a lot of sodium in many prepared foods. I started avoiding those products, especially after the medical experts told us we were only supposed to consume a max of 2,000 milligrams a day. It’s easy to consume double or triple that if you eat out and/or eat pre-packaged foods. Because Rice-a-Roni was so high in sodium I stopped buying it. By the way, it’s now owned by Quaker Oats.

Beginning in the late 1960’s I started avoiding nearly all packaged and ready-made foods altogether, in favor of making things myself, adding only fresh food, fresh vegetables, my own herbs and spices. And I’ve continued to adhere to that with only a few exceptions. There are a couple of cake mixes I do use for some family favorites. I do buy an occasional frozen vegetable, some Trader Joe’s mixes (that contain no additives or preservatives). And once in awhile I buy Pillsbury biscuits because I have one recipe that is just so good and easy. I try to buy organically fed meat. Sometimes I buy organic produce. Not always, depending on the quality or freshness of it.

Having done a search for this posting today, I discovered that the combo of rice and pasta is an Armenian thing. I thought it was Italian, but no. The founders of Rice-a-Roni actually created it from something served to them by an Armenian neighbor. Thus, the rice boxed mix was born. And why they must add so much sodium to it is beyond me. But they sure enough do.

Because I always walk right past that boxed mix section in my grocery store, I’d forgotten all about the rice/noodle combination until a recipe was printed in my local food section last week. Labeled Carrie’s Rice, it is identical to hundreds of other pilaf recipes out there on the internet. Some add mushrooms, garlic, maybe some dill weed, pine nuts perhaps, but they all contain noodle-type pasta or orzo, white rice, butter, onion and chicken broth. Some recipes brown only the pasta; others brown both pasta and the rice. If you use low-sodium chicken broth, as I did, you’ll likely want to add some salt to it. And you can vary the amount of butter. Many recipes call for a full stick of butter for 1 cup of rice and 1 cup of pasta. I cut it down by half, and think that was still too much. So I’ve reduced the amount even more in the recipe below. It’s a very quick side dish. The kids will like it, and since you’re doing all the cooking of it, you know exactly what’s in it. Unadulterated rice, pasta, butter and canned broth. Maybe some onion, and/or garlic too.

Armenian Rice & Noodle Pilaf

Serving Size: 6

1 cup long-grain rice – raw

1 cup vermicelli – broken into small bits, or thin linguine

1/2 cup onion – chopped

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 cup mushrooms – cleaned, sliced [optional]

3 tablespoons pine nuts – toasted, garnish

2 teaspoons fresh dill — minced

Salt and pepper to taste

1. In a heavy skillet or saucepan melt butter, then add pasta, rice and onions. Stir and cook until the mixture is lightly browned. Add mushrooms at this point, if using, and cook them for about 2 minutes.

2. Add broth all at once, bring to a simmer, cover and cook over very low heat for about 20 minutes, until rice is completely cooked, but not mushy. Taste for seasonings (salt and pepper). Garnish with pine nuts and dill, if using. Serve immediately.

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This recipe requires the telling of a travel-related story. Some years ago (I’m guessing it was about 15) my DH and I went on a white-water rafting trip in Idaho. My DH was quite surprised when I mentioned the trip to him. What, he said? You WANT to go camping in the remote wilderness? I said, well, yes, because the guides do all the work, all the cooking, and we’re just there to immerse ourselves in the scenery and enjoy the food. The relaxation. The clean air.

I have fond memories of my childhood when my parents and I went camping in the High  Sierras (the inland ridge of mountains that divide, almost, California from Nevada). My dad loved to fish; my mom not so much, but she enjoyed lazy days in the camp, reading magazines, a book, playing games of Scrabble (which I still love to this day). Sometimes I went fishing with my dad, but usually got bored after awhile. I had my own pole, usually a hand-me-down from my dad. We fished for trout in those cold, crisp mountain streams, seeking out the deep pools of water, near rocks, where the trout loved to hide. We tent camped, but my parents did 99% of the work, so I didn’t realize until I was an adult about how much effort was involved in setting up the camp, or cooking meals. Or doing dishes. Or laundry. Or even the packing that went on at home for a couple of weeks before the trip.

Since those days I haven’t camped much, and would prefer to do it in a camper or trailer if the option were to come up. My DH, however, has no interest in camping, even in a luxury vehicle. He likes water. The ocean, mostly. (We have a sailboat, and that’s HIS idea of camping.) But when I suggested the Idaho river-rafting trip, maybe it was the water that intrigued him. At any rate, we went, and signed up for a trip that was not only a “gourmet” trip, but a wine-tasting trip as well. Salmon River Outfitters had been written up in Gourmet. That’s all the mattered to me – if Gourmet thought it was a great trip with great food, surely we would too. And indeed we did. SRO has new owners, but I’d suspect they would have continued the tradition.

I could write up an entire post about the week-long trip itself (the wildlife, the hikes, the campsites, the conviviality of the small group, the thrill of the rapids, and even getting to the imbarkation point too) but for now I’ll just talk about the food. To say I was amazed at the food is an understatement. Here we were, out in the middle of nowhere (on the Salmon River, the South Fork, with nothing but ice chests of food and camping gear – no roads – no civilization whatsoever – no supply boat or car to deliver food to us) and the group of guides (four on our trip). We rafted the river for a couple or three hours in the mornings, then they’d spy a favorite sandy bank and our three rafts would pull in. They’d set up comfy chairs right at the riverside, bring in the potty box (which went with us on the trip from beginning to end) and set up a small secluded toilet for the group, then they’d start preparing lunch. Lunch was usually cold food – salads, sandwiches, and maybe brownies, fruit and cookies, hot coffee in thermoses from breakfast, soft drinks. We stopped long enough to enjoy more of the scenery and let our lunches settle, then we’d pile back into the rafts and off we’d go for the afternoon run. Another couple or three hours on the river, more rapids perhaps, maybe a hike into an abandoned gold rush era village, and we’d stop again for the day. They had their favorite spots. There are a few other river outfitters plying the same waters (the state mandates a limited number of rafts on the river at any time), so everyone jockeys for their favorite sites. (And, incidentally, every single minute amount of detritus we had on this trip - dirty tissues, paper towels, wrappers, was all taken along on the trip and disposed of properly - nothing, absolutely nothing - was left on the river or in campsites.)

The weather was unseasonably cold the year we went (in July), and we were very, VERY limited in what we could take with us (they had mailed us a small waterproof cloth duffle bag and everything, absolutely everything we took had to fit into this bag). We slept in sleeping bags they provided with a small 2-man tent that goes up in nothing flat. We were required to set up our own tents and if rain threatened, we needed to dig small drainage ditches around the tent. We did have rain a couple of times, so it was a good thing we dug the ditches. A couple went along on that trip from Granite Springs winery (in California gold country, and now part of Latcham winery), and every night they provided some delightful wines for all of us to enjoy before and during dinner. The meals the guides prepared were positively amazing. I don’t remember now what all they made, but they were outstanding. The guides set up a couple of small camping prep tables and two kerosene stoves, and from those limited resources, they prepared meals you’d think were from a gourmet restaurant.

So, one night, they made this pasta dish. And everyone just adored it, me included. Toward the end of the trip they told us they had a “book” they’d sell us for a fee. It contained the story of Salmon River Outfitters and some, but not all of the recipes, but the most popular ones, this pasta dish one of them. So, of course, I had to buy the book. And I’ve made this pasta numerous times since, and never fail to remember the fun we had on that river rafting trip, and how scrumptious this tasted as we sat by the burbling river, listening to the hawks, the birds, the bees, spotting eagles soaring at high elevations too.

Cook’s Notes: this dish does take some moderate amount of prep. Lots of cutting and chopping, but once done, the dish comes together quickly. I added a little bit of chicken broth to the sauce just to give a bit more fluid to it. If you end up mixing up the two parts of the sauce, don’t worry – I’ve done it myself, and it doesn’t seem to matter. Be sure to use both Feta and Romano cheese (don’t skip, because the Feta is an important component).

Shrimp & Pasta a la Pizzaiola

Recipe By: Salmon River Outfitters, Idaho

Serving Size: 8

2 pounds medium shrimp — raw

1 teaspoon pickling spice

2 pounds pasta [my choice is linguine]

MUSHROOM SAUCE:

1/4 pound mushrooms — fresh, sliced

2 teaspoons olive oil

1/4 cup fresh basil — sliced

1/4 cup fresh parsley — minced

1 clove garlic — minced

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 cup cherry tomatoes

2 tablespoons capers

PIZZAIOLA SAUCE:

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic — minced

1/2 whole red bell pepper — thinly sliced

3 whole tomatoes — chopped

1 teaspoon fresh oregano — minced

1 dash salt

1 dash pepper

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 cup dry red wine

TOPPINGS:

3 1/2 ounces Feta cheese — crumbled

1/3 cup Romano cheese — or Parmegiano, shredded

3 tablespoons basil leaves — sliced

1.  Bring 1 quart of water to a boil and add pickling spice and shrimp.  Simmer for 3-4 minutes, or until shrimp turns pink and curls.  Cool under cold running water, peel and devein.

2.  Heat olive oil in large skillet.  Add mushrooms and garlic and sauté for about 5 minutes.  Add basil and parsley, then shrimp and lemon juice, and cook for about 5 minutes.  Add Piazzaiola Sauce and heat through.

3.  In a large kettle, bring a large quantity of water to a boil and add the pasta of your choice and cook until al dente.  Rinse in hot water, drain briefly, then toss with shrimp/sauce mixture.  Add Feta, capers and cherry tomatoes, then sprinkle with Romano and serve immediately.

4.  PIZZAIOLA SAUCE: In a large kettle heat olive oil until a light haze forms over it.  Remove from heat and add garlic and bell peppers.  Stir while it cooks, off the flame.  Peel, seed and chop the tomatoes.  Add oregano, salt, pepper, basil, sugar and red wine.  Add to mushroom mixture.

Per Serving: 679 Calories; 14g Fat (19.2% calories from fat); 42g Protein; 92g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber; 188mg Cholesterol; 436mg Sodium.  Exchanges: 5 1/2 Grain(Starch); 3 1/2 Lean Meat; 1 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 2 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.

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Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door.” Well, the quote doesn’t exactly fit my purpose here, but close. There are creative people who thrive on finding a different solution, an innovation, to a problem. In the culinary world, chefs need to create on a dime. Every day. Here, we’re talking about pasta. And there’s nothing quite like overcooked pasta. I do like it just barely done - but al dente still. So, instead of guessing and having to remove a strand of lingine from the boiling pot, here’s a foolproof and very Italian method. There really is more than one way to boil pasta. I know, this isn’t exactly a very interesting post subject, but I ran across something in my stack of recipes that I’ve had for years, and used many times. So, I thought I’d share it with you.

The advice came from a cooking instructor. What class, I can’t tell you. It’s something she passed out to all of her class participants, every class she teaches. And it’s a photocopy from the back of a package or box. Agnesi is an Italian company - they do have a website, but it’s all in Italian.

Anyway, the instructor was also a caterer, and she said this is her failsafe method. She uses it always. And as long as I remember, on those occasions when I do make pasta, it’s worked like a charm.

• “The ANGESI Advice for a Better Pasta Cooking Method: cook pasta in boiling water for just 2 minutes. Measure this time from the moment the water returns to a boil after adding the pasta. After the 2 minutes are up, remove pot from the heat, cover with a lid and leave to stand for the cooking time indicated on the box. Drain the pasta and . . . buon appetitto! This is to encourage you to try a new way of cooking pasta. You will see that when the cooking time is over, the water is almost clear. This is because the pasta has retained most of its precious nutrients, some of which are lost during the normal, longer cooking method.”

You know, orzo is a rice-shaped pasta. Once it plumps up, it grows a bit in size, but still looks like large, very large, grains of rice. And carbonara is a rich, cream-laden Italian preparation of pasta with bacon as the primary flavor. Yet, risotto is a creamy rice preparation too, that can vary with the additions. So, Phillis Carey combined all of these culinary variations and created a great risotto-like pasta side dish. Since I like bacon a whole heck of a lot, and thyme is my most favorite-est herb, this satisfies like comfort food.

The preparation is fairly simple, although you do have to heat up the broth and be near the range when you’re making this. But you don’t have to stir for 30-45 minutes like you do with risotto. It comes together in about 30 minutes.

Cook’s Notes: you may need to add more liquid to this - depends on how long it takes to cook the orzo. If you’ve run out of broth, just add water. This wants to be on the wet side - it should not be stiff when served, but creamy, soft. Once you add the cream and bring it to a simmer, have everything ready because you want to serve this immediately. I mean immediately.

Orzo Carbonara with Bacon & Thyme
Recipe: Phillis Carey, cookbook author & instructor
Servings: 6
4 slices thick-sliced bacon — 1/2 inch pieces
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound orzo
5 cups low-sodium chicken broth — heated to a simmer
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup Parmesano-Reggiano Cheese — freshly grated
1 teaspoon fresh thyme — chopped
1. Cook bacon in heavy saucepan over medium heat until crisp, about 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon transfer bacon to paper towels and drain.
2. Pour off all but 1 T. of drippings from pan. Add butter and melt. Add orzo and toss in butter. Add 3 cups chicken broth and bring to a boil. Simmer, uncovered, adding more broth as needed to keep orzo from sticking to bottom the pan. Cook orzo until just tender and broth is absorbed, about 8-10 minutes.
3. Add heavy cream and bring to a simmer. Mix in cheese, bacon and thyme and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Per Serving: 426 Calories; 15g Fat (29.5% calories from fat); 22g Protein; 58g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 31mg Cholesterol; 178mg Sodium.

Printer-friendly recipe, click HERE.

I’m on a roll. Trying some of the recipes amongst the hundreds of clippings I sorted through a few days ago. This one was only about 7 months old - after I broke my foot last summer I watched a heck of a lot of television, and this was one of Giada’s Italian recipes that sounded so good, and I knew I’d enjoy it. It’s easy to make, too. Can’t beat that combination. I really can’t say that I make all that many recipes from Food Network shows. I enjoy watching some of them (as theater, I suppose) but only occasionally do I go to the Network’s site and print out a recipe.

Here are Giada De Laurentis’ stuffed jumbo shells, placed in a baking dish. Photo from the Food Network.

I almost always have pancetta on hand, but I didn’t have the 3/4 inch cubes Giada mentions in the recipe - I had the tiny cubed pancetta that I get from Trader Joe’s in 4-ounce packages. DH offered to go grocery shopping for me, so I wrote down “large pasta shells.” I should have known that “jumbo” was what I wanted. Soooo, I had to improvise a bit. The large shells are way too small to stuff, so I just made a casserole of them instead. Am sure they tasted the same, but most definitely didn’t look as attractive as Giada’s. The Asiago cheese is part of what “makes” this dish, since it has a kind of sharp taste. Good, though. And the dash of nutmeg in the mixture was really delish. The dish is rich, so it’s filling. Maybe a bit too rich for me. DH liked this a LOT. Said I could make this anytime. Any day. Night. Whenever.

Shells with Crispy Pancetta and Spinach
Recipe: Giada de Laurentis, Everyday Italian, Food Network
Serving Size : 8 [Giada says this feeds 4-6. No way - more like 8-10 in my estimation.]
SHELLS:
1 package jumbo pasta shells — (12-ounce)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 pound pancetta — cut into 3/4-inch cubes
2 pounds frozen spinach — thawed and drained
15 ounces ricotta cheese — whole milk
1 cup asiago cheese — grated
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
SAUCE:
1 tablespoon butter
1 garlic clove — minced
1 cup cream
2 cups asiago cheese — grated, set aside 1/4 cup
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. For the shells: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta.
3. Warm the olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the pancetta and cook until lightly golden, about 5 minutes. Remove the pancetta from the pan with a slotted spoon and transfer to a large bowl. Add the spinach, ricotta cheese, asiago cheese, pepper, and nutmeg. Stir to combine. Stuff the shells with about 2 tablespoons of the spinach mixture each and place the stuffed shells in a large, buttered baking dish.
4. For the sauce: Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the cream and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat to very low and add the 2 cups asiago cheese, parsley, and pepper. Stir until the cheese is dissolved. Pour the sauce over the shells. Top with the remaining 1/4 cup asiago cheese.
5. Bake until golden on top, about 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve immediately.

Per Serving: 410 Calories; 31g Fat (66.9% calories from fat); 26g Protein; 9g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber; 103mg Cholesterol; 1419mg Sodium.

Printer-friendly recipe, click HERE.

(photo: colonialtymesrestaurant.com)

It was a few years ago and we flew from California to Philadelphia to attend the wedding of a young couple, friends. They’d met in San Diego, actually sailed with us on our boat one afternoon soon after they’d met. He was, is, a Navy pilot and close with dear friends of ours from Philadelphia. We thought they made a fine couple and wished them much happiness. The groom’s mother prepared a lovely feast for the rehearsal dinner. There were many hands helping in the kitchen, mine among them, and I fell in love with this incredibly easy side dish (or, it could be a main dish as is, or add some protein of some kind too).

I watched as MaryAnn made this sauce - she opened cans of chopped tomatoes, cubed up some cream cheese, chopped some basil, added a tad of wine vinegar, fresh garlic, and olive oil. All this was stirred up in a very large bowl, covered with plastic wrap and left to sit out for about 6 hours. The flavors developed, obviously and the cream cheese kind of dissolved, sort of. At serving time she made a heap of hot penne, combined the sauce and poured it onto a very large platter with additional basil and sprinkled the real-thing Parmesan cheese and it was done. The total amount of actual work in this is about 5 minutes. (I’m not counting the time to cook the pasta, of course.) Maybe 10 max. If you need to hold the sauce for longer, put it in the refrigerator. Just bring it back to room temp before serving. The dish can be served at room temp, actually, but I think it’s best hot.

And I’ll tell you, this is absolutely fabulous. I’ve made it many, many times since. It’s a cinch for guests. Tastes beyond good. This one is going onto the top FAV’s down my right column. It’s that good. Thank you, MaryAnn.

Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce
Recipe: MaryAnn Quinn, a friend of a friend in Philadelphia
Serving Size : 10 (as a side dish, 4 as main dish)
2 cans tomatoes, canned — diced with juice
8 ounces cream cheese — cubed
2 cloves garlic — minced
1 bunch basil — minced
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 pound penne pasta
1. Combine all ingredients (except pasta and cheese) in a large bowl, cover and allow to sit for several hours at room temperature.
2. Boil pasta just until barely tender, drain, add sauce to pasta, stir and pour into a large serving bowl. Sprinkle cheese on top and additional basil, if desired.
COOK’S NOTES: This takes about 5 minutes to prepare the sauce and it’s DONE! You can use any kind of pasta, but choose one that will hold some of the sauce (i.e., not linguine or spaghetti) in its crevices. These days it seems odd to let food sit at room temp for several hours, but when I was first served this, it was left out and later served to 30 people without a problem. A double batch was JUST enough (small servings) for 30 with an entree, green salad and ample appetizers. My favorite tomatoes are Muir Glen fire roasted, but any brand will really be fine. Muir Glen is carried at Whole Foods.

Per Serving: 383 Calories; 22g Fat (50.8% calories from fat); 11g Protein; 36g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 31mg Cholesterol; 239mg Sodium.
To view a printable recipe, click HERE.